By the time you read this, the main E3 2016 shows from the big three will be more-or-less over – and for the first time in a few years it seems like each of the hosts of these E3 2016 shows can rightfully feel happy about the quality of the conference (or Treehouse) they held. Since I don’t own every current-gen home console and/or handheld, the Sony conference held my interest more than the other E3 2016 shows… nevertheless, I like to watch all three to get an idea of what’s going on in gaming lately.
E3 2016 shows: Microsoft
Microsoft had a lot of reasons to be happy in their conference – the first of the E3 2016 shows. Whilst rumours may be circulating about the Scorpio machine and other hardware revisions, they had a lot of interesting news about the games that owners of current Xbox hardware will be playing. Even when a lot of the cheers were for further instalments in old franchises such as Gears of War and Forza, those new instalments still looked impressive enough in their own right. (My best failed guess at a teaser also happened during this conference, when I thought that Tekken 7 would be Tekken X Street Fighter just because Akuma was in the footage.) Meanwhile, Hideki Kamiya was in his element in an environment where he could engage with the audience without worrying about them engaging back, but Scalebound still seemed a little sluggish next to Bayonetta 2, Transformers Devastation and other games in Platinum’s back catalogue (not to mention the forthcoming Nier Automata), so it remains to be seen whether this new game meets the expectations of Platinum’s fans.
E3 2016 shows: Sony
Following this, the next of these E3 2016 shows was hosted by Sony, who had the thankless task of trying to follow-up the remarkable conference they held last year, but like Microsoft they showed a strong commitment to showcasing forthcoming games rather than talking about infrastructures, statistics or other media. Alongside franchise extensions and sequels (God of War, Final Fantasy) we saw more of Horizon: Zero Dawn, a new Quantic Dream game and a number of Playstation VR titles, as well as Kojima’s magnificent stage appearance and new footage from The Last Guardian. Some games such as Nier Automata, Gravity Rush 2 and Persona 5 were notably absent from the conference but new trailers for the former two games emerged outside of the conference and a new P5 reveal may have happened outside of the main conference by the time you read this (if it has, expect a seperate news update shortly.)
E3 2016 shows: Nintendo
When browsing the schedules of the E3 2016 shows I was never in a massive hurry to watch Nintendo’s offering – I haven’t owned a Nintendo system since the original DS and I just don’t enjoy Zelda, Metroid, Smash Bros, Kid Icarus, Pilotwings etc – but they had Zelda, and Pokemon…and Zelda again. Even so, I can’t be too hard on Zelda; the series has gone on for so long and shifted in so many different directions that the Zelda franchise is pretty malleable and can more-or-less pretend to be other games – When reading news about the new Zelda – titled “Breath of the Wild” – I saw opinions online ranging from “Zelda Skyrim” to “Zelda Souls”. And if the game can deliver that kind of gameplay it might attract people who find “traditional” Zelda (whatever that is now) unappealing.
E3 2016 shows: exciting for everyone
I watched the main three E3 2016 shows with the intention of writing some brief general impressions here but I’m not about to provide in-depth speculation over any one title just yet. In short, everyone had various reasons to be excited about gaming’s future. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all showed a lot of great games (and in some cases new technology) in their E3 2016 shows and the presenters were all entertaining and put on a good show. Maybe not everyone was happy with the conferences because their most-wanted game didn’t make an appearance, but there is still a lot to look forward to.